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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26775751">Grandma's Favorite</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/cassiexrailly/pseuds/cassiexrailly'>cassiexrailly</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Yellowstone (TV 2018)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 04:27:49</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,613</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26775751</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/cassiexrailly/pseuds/cassiexrailly</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Rip has work to do and he's not a babysitter and Tate wants to go riding on a horse that isn't tame yet. Simple answer? Go bother Grandpa...</p><p>A part of #Hauntober on tumblr | Week 1 Day 2 | Prompt: Leaves</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kayce Dutton/Cara Mason(Dutton), Kayce Dutton/OC</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Grandma's Favorite</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>enjoy this cute little one-shot from a collection of them i'll be posting for #Hauntober on tumblr!!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Tate was outside by the stables, waiting for his horse to finish eating so he could brush out its coat and mane. Rip came into view and gave him a solid nod, with a little tip of his hat.</p><p>“Tate.” Rip said his name softly but firmly, in that way he had of nearly growling everything, but it wasn’t in anger or frustration at all.</p><p>“Rip, waaaaait!” He called out, taking three excessively large steps toward the biggest man on the ranch. “I want to go riding but my horse isn’t ready yet! Because dad’s been too busy!” It was almost like he was whining. “And I have to have someone with me!”</p><p>Rip looked down at him with a stern look on his face. “Hmmph.” He made his momentary perplexity into a sound, scratching at a patch of his beard. “I’ll tell ya what, why don’ you get yer gran’pa. M’sure he’d love t’go out ridin’ with you. Or anythin’ else fun you could wan’.”</p><p>Tate’s eyes bugged out of their sockets as his excitement and his interest peaked. “Great idea!”</p><p>He ran off before Rip could yell after him to mind his mama and daddy and to ask permission first, but Hell, he’d never asked for permission for anything in his whole damn life. He’d always begged forgiveness after. “That kid…” He gruffly murmured to himself. “A whole lotta trouble…” But he grinned wide after like he knew it was the good kind.</p><p>The wind swept through the fields and followed Tate back into the big house at the top of the hill. The door didn’t catch behind him but he didn’t stop to look at it, he just came traipsing all the way through the kitchen, through the great room where the family would usually gather at night and down the hall toward his grandpa’s office.</p><p>John Dutton was seated at the desk, a mountain of papers before him and a look of abject disgust on his face. And Kayce Dutton, otherwise known as dad, sat across from him in his usual jeans, overshirt, white plain tank underneath, and boots on his feet with cowboy hat on his head. They both looked up abruptly and looked over as Tate ran into the room and stopped short.</p><p>“Dad! Grandpa!” He had a flush of red in his cheeks, both from the running and the chill outside. “I wanna go riding, but my horse isn’t ready!” He looked pointedly at his dad and then back at his grandpa. “Rip told me I had to find you and we could probably surely find something to do!”</p><p>“Did Rip also tell ya t’find me, s’I could decide if I’m gonna let you?” Kayce’s eyebrows raised a bit in expectance.</p><p>“No.”</p><p>John Dutton smirked and ducked his head. “Well he was pro’ly going to, Kayce, but then Tate pro’ly took off too quick.”</p><p>“Sounds ‘bout righ’…” Kayce slouched back into the chair in which he sat.</p><p>“Hey!” Tate exclaimed. “Don’t talk about me like I’m not here!”</p><p>Both men chuckled heartily at that, John moving to get up. “Well, Kayce, if it’s alright with you, I’m gonna take your son and teach him all about his grandma’s favorite.”</p><p>Kayce sat forward. “You best not be talkin’ ‘bout me.”</p><p>John smirked and shook his head. “If you didn’ wan’ me t’talk about ya son, you shouldn’t have had a child I could talk to about it.”</p><p>Kayce grunted. “Should I be worried?”</p><p>Cara popped her head into the office around the high-gloss wooden doorframe. “Did ah’hear somebody say ‘worried?’ Ain’t nobody s’posed t’be worried’n Fall. C’mon… Where’s ya spooky spirit?”</p><p>John’s eyes lit up even more. He had his family around him and that was all an old man needed around any holidays – or all the time, period. “Why don’ we all do somethin’ t’gether t’day? C’mon, I’ve got an idea…”</p><p>A while later…</p><p>Rip was looking on from the front porch of his home. He couldn’t stop smiling and he just knew his cheeks were going to start aching soon. He had two six packs of beer and three forties from the liquor store in town chilling in an ice chest beside him. And he was happier than a pig in slop because he was watching somebody else work for a change. Well, three adults and a half… “C’mon! Put yer back int’it, kid! All that rakin’ an’ yer spreadin’ it ‘round more than yer doin’ the job!”</p><p>Kayce and Cara, who were also raking, alongside Tate and Grandpa John, hadn’t stopped chuckling like big grown up kids at the commentary. Although, in stark contrast to the work Tate wasn’t doing, they were accomplishing a lot more.</p><p>Tate huffed and threw his rake down. “Don’t make fun of me! I’m trying! I’ve never raked before!”</p><p>Kayce and Cara both gave a little sound, as if to say ‘aww’ and ‘poor baby’ without saying the words. Kayce stopped raking and came over to his boy. “Hey, don’ do tha’. Don’ give up…”</p><p>“But!” Tate was so exasperated.</p><p>“I’ll tell you a secret, instead, an’ then you can decide if ya wanna give up ‘er keep goin’. Alrigh’?” John said as he stood up straighter, his hands on the handle of the rake as he leaned into it. He waited until Tate looked at him but he had everyone’s attention now. “Yer grandma, she loved this time of year. It wasn’ jus’ b’cause it was the start o’ the holiday season where everybody would come t’gether. It was the chill in the air an’ the fires goin’n everybody’s hearths that ya can smell from inside yer own place.” His eyes look far away as he relives his memories.</p><p>“Ah’r’member tha’…” Cara says softly, smiling in the brisk afternoon. “S’why ah’love it all s’much…”</p><p>Kayce nods. “Yeah. Me, too.”</p><p>“You two were always closest t’her. Her favorites. Though she never said it ou’ loud’n fron’ o’ all o’ you. She predicted the two o’ you would fall’n love an’ if ya ever lef’…” John gestured to his son. “That Car would bring ya back ‘round someday.” He paused, smiling. “Anyway, yer grandma…” He addressed Tate again. “She had somethin’ else that was her favorite. She loved bein’ outside. She loved makin’ a huge pile o’ leaves an’ then fallin’ righ’ in it!” Kayce and Cara exchanged a glance and a smile. Even Rip was listening avidly to his surrogate mother’s memories and life being recalled here.</p><p>Tate smiled up at his grandpa. “I wish I knew her…” He paused, looking at his father and his stepmom and seeing their expressions of sadness and pride. “She sounds great!”</p><p>John and everyone else gave a chuckle or loud bark of laughter at Tate’s admission. “She really was, great, Tate. She was the very best.” He paused. “So do you wanna make a huge pile o’ leaves an’ fall righ’n the center of ‘em ‘er do you wanna give up?”</p><p>This was one of those life lessons that would carry through to the very end of Tate’s life.</p><p>Moment of truth.</p><p>“Heck yes!” Tate exclaimed, picking up the rake and working harder, really trying to get all the leaves he could together. “I’m gonna make the biggest pile!”</p><p>Kayce snickered. “Now, jus’ hang on a minute there, son… We need t’put our piles t’gether. S’get ready yer gonna have a four-person size pile!”</p><p>“Naw, yer not.” Rip said, surprising everyone when he appeared with a rake of his own and started from a little distance away. His low but base filled voice carried. “Yer gonna have a pile deep ‘nough fer five people. Le’s go, we’re burnin’ daylight here, gettin’ this boy his leaves…”</p><p>It took them the rest of the hour to amass enough leaves worthy of five bodies. At that point it was all that was left to jump in…</p><p>Cara put a hand to her usually taut stomach that was barely showing a little paunch where the baby was growing inside of her. “M’not one t’pass on all the fun but ah’don’ know if me fallin’ down t’the ground with a pack o’ wil’ men’s the bes’ thing fer me ‘er the baby righ’ now…”</p><p>John noticed when Kayce put his protective arms around his wife to be from behind and nodded. “Safety firs’.</p><p>Kayce smiled. “I’s all fer you anyway, son. Why don’ ya go ‘head.” He held onto the love of his life as they both waited for their son – because Tate was as much Cara’s son at this point as he was Kayce’s – to experience something new.</p><p>“Okay!” He said before exclaiming. “WAHOO!” And jumped right into the pile that was three times his size. All of the adults in his life, plus him, had covered a lot of ground just to amass these many. It was great and he was giggling all the way down until they couldn’t see him anymore. He was buried.</p><p>“Oh m’God…” Cara looked over her shoulder at Kayce, grinning. “Where’s Tate?”</p><p>“Yer righ’!” He widened his eyes, grinning back. “Where’s my son!?”</p><p>John and Rip were chuckling heartily in the background. Rip barely recovered enough to chime in. “I don’ know where he went. Second ‘go he was righ’ here.”</p><p>“I’m here!” Tate stood up with a bound, spraying leaves out into the air around him. Everybody laughed in response. “Did I make grandma proud!?”</p><p>John looked at Kayce and Cara, at Rip and then back at Tate before he replied. Everyone had such a lovely expression on their faces. It was a happy day. “Yes, grandson, yes ya did. Think maybe you would have been grandma’s new favorite.”</p>
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